The Two Slaps
by Kuroi Kokoro 09
Summary: Parents may reprimand and sometimes beat their own child, but the child can never truly understand how much the Lion cares behind those harshness and be anxious, not until he or she becomes one.


**Not that I am tired of writing IchiHime, but I wanted to try writing some stories with other characters. Then the past with Isshin and Masaki was out, and I thought they would be a good pair to go. It would be slightly fluffy, but I want to focus more on "family" instead of "romance" again...and ta-dah! I did it!**

 **Indeed, family is really important to us. Your parents and siblings may irk you, they are irreplaceable and give the most unconditional love, even though sometimes they may not say it out loud. I think it is just like Isshin, actually a loving father who uses odd methods to show that he really cares for his children, especially Ichigo. He really does have that image of the Lion who shoves his cub down the cliff and waits anxiously for the cub to climb up on his own in many occasions, and I must admit that he is just like my father. It is also because I found such resemblance to my life that it prompted me to write this albeit-crappy family stuff.**

 **Sorry that I have kept you so long with my nonsense. So, here you go!**

* * *

 **The Two Slaps**

"Err…Isshin?" The former Shinigami captain looked up from his pile of paper at the desk to the sweet face of his sun at the call. He flashed a wide grin as soon as he laid his eyes on her, and his tiredness vanished into the air.

"Yes, my dear Masaki?" He nearly sang it out, unable to keep the happiness in check. He even ignored his work and waltzed away from his desk to stand beside her. He was about to squeeze her in a bear's hug when she took a step back, putting some distance between them. He pouted, "Aww, Masaki, why being a stranger to me so suddenly? We're married already!"

"It's not like that," The female Quincy said, looking uneasy and a little disturbed. In seconds, Isshin's eyes widened.

"You're sick again, right?!" He ran about the clinic to fetch things he needed. "A bucket for you to throw up into, some towels just in case, water to rinse your mouth and drink, some pills—I don't know what's the reason, but anyhow…anything else? Is anything amiss? Lemme see…"

"Calm down, Isshin! I'm fine!" Masaki laughed as she grabbed him by his white doctor's robe and made him return to his seat. "There's something I need to tell you."

"I know, I know!" Isshin cried. He grabbed the bucket by his side and shoved it in front of his lovely wife. "You need to puke! Here you go!"

"Not that!" Anyone would have gone mad with Isshin's behaviour, but we are now talking about Kurosaki Masaki, and she would never throw feats, especially to the one she cared so much. She was still smiling, but her eyes got more serious, "I need to you stay very calm, Isshin, or we're getting nowhere. You promise?"

"…Alright, you have my word." The man folded his arms as he made an effort to stay put. "So, what's the news?"

"Well," Masaki sat on the patient's stool beside Isshin's chair. "This is somehow related to my recent sickness—hey! You promised!" She pointed her finger at Isshin's nose to stop him from jumping out of his chair again. After he has settled down again, she continued, "Now, I suppose they've taught you nothing about girls' matters at school in Soul Society, right?"

"I _know_ stuff even if those geezers don't teach." He huffed. "And?"

"Okay, I'll give you one more clue," Masaki took a breath, bracing herself from any reactions. "I'm late."

"Late?" Isshin raised a brow. "What're you late for, Masaki? I don't know you're in any tight schedules."

"I don't mean any chronological schedule." She explained patiently. "It's more like, uh…a physiological schedule, I'd reckon. You know, matters all about the bodily systems, reactions and…cycles?"

"…Would you just _please_ tell me what's going on here, Masaki?!" Isshin wailed frantically. "You said you're fine, but what I can understand is that you're totally _not fine_! I can't comprehend what you've been talking about at all!"

"Alright, I'll tell you." Seeing enough is enough, Masaki said, "My menstruation period is late."

"Your period? What does it have anything—?" Then Isshin's eyes bulged to be as large as saucers as realisation finally dawned upon him. He looked at Masaki in her eyes, then he looked down to her abdomen and up again. "You don't mean…?"

"I've been to the hospital yesterday to get the results." Her smile widened. "I did the test this morning too, and both of them are positive."

Isshin stared at his wife incredulously as he had a rather hard time taking in the sudden news. He sat still as a statue in his chair, mouth opened. It went on for two minutes and Masaki broke the silence, "Err…Isshin? Are you alright?"

"Yes?" Stunned out of his stupor, he squeaked. "Oh, yes! I'm absolutely fine! It's just…I don't know…it's so…wow! Who'd believe that? Me—a Shinigami…a child! I-I'm sorry, dear; I just couldn't think straight for a moment and…me, a father of all things! Who'd believe—I'd never believe it! Oh, Masaki!" He looked at her with crazed eyes, panting heavily from the nonstop ranting, "Tell me that this is a dream, a joke or…just _anything_ but not the truth! Please, dear Masaki!"

"But this _is_ true." She said firmly, laying a hand on her abdomen. "It's not that obvious, or maybe it's just my hunch, but I do _feel_ something inside me, like a new reiryoku developing."

Silence dawned in the room again, then Isshin broke it, "Masaki, I…"

She looked at her husband lovingly but then squeaked as Isshin's eyes rolled to the back of his skull and blacked out on his desk. She laughed, totally not blaming him for being unable to handle the shock and even hyperventilating himself. Not that she was being cold for not helping him, but given her new situation she could not risk miscarriage due to excessive labour. She walked out of the room, singing to herself, "Oh, I can't wait for the next months!"

\+ B + B +

"Owie-ouch!" The loud crash woke Masaki up in the middle of the night. She sprang up in the bed and looked around frantically for anything wrong, only to find a raised twitching hand on the other side of the bed. Slowly, Isshin climbed up from the floor, hissing as he nursed his bumped head and buttocks.

"Are you alright, Isshin?" She asked worriedly.

"No worries, Masaki! I'm fine!" He said with a wince.

"I'm sorry that I've disturbed your sleep again." She said. "I just couldn't find a good position, and my big belly makes you uncomfortable."

"Nah, it's okay! Don't sweat about it." He waved a hand in the air to dismiss it.

"You can actually touch my belly, you know." She suggested. "That way you can get closer to me so you won't fall down from the bed anymore."

"No!" Isshin exclaimed. "You know what a terrible sleeper I can be! I don't want any of my thrashing hurt either you or our baby!"

"You don't have to treat me like porcelain." Masaki smiled warmly at his lovely behaviour, as well as for his heart of gold. For what she has known, there was hardly any husband who would care their pregnant wives to such extents, let alone calling the growing life in the womb " _our_ baby" than " _the_ baby". The now-Kurosaki Isshin could always be surprisingly caring, especially when you really needed it.

"I say you're porcelain, and you are! No objections accepted!" The man huffed childishly. "As for my buttocks," He grinned as he tapped Masaki's belly lightly with his fingertips. "I'll make you pay it back later on, for I'll slap you _real hard_ on your lil' buttocks after you've come to this world! You can count on that, sonny!"

After his words, Masaki let out a yelp as she coiled a little in pain. She quickly calmed Isshin down, "It's only him. He kicks me so suddenly that it hurts a bit."

"Oh, such a naught boy, hurting your mommy, huh?" The father-to-be chuckled. He then noticed the little lump formed near Masaki's belly button and stroked it, all the while saying to the foetus with a baby-talking tone, "You're protesting now, huh? Uh-huh-huh! No use in arguing back! When your old man's decided on it, then he'll do it! You've better prepare yourself for it! It'll be very soon!"

Masaki laughed at the sight as their baby inside her womb squirmed around energetically at the sound of his father's voice. Oh, she really could not wait!

\+ B + B +

The wails of a newborn baby echoed the cold halls of the hospital.

Despite the overwhelming tiredness, Masaki struggled to stay awake at the first cries of her child. The nurses congratulated her, but she could care less about that.

"Can I…see the baby…?" She heaved wearily, but in no time her request was answered. She was given a bundle of blue soft towels, and amongst the thick fabric was a small chubby face, beet-red and distorted as it wailed at the top of its voice.

"Congratulations, Kurosaki-san!" The felicitation came again. "It's a boy!"

"…-me through! Lemme through!" Came the boisterous voice of her husband as the doors swung open. Isshin's face was painted with anxiety as he crashed in and rushed to her side. For a moment he could not decide where his hands should touch and they fidgeted from her cheeks, her shoulders and to her arm. Finally he decided to grip the rail of her bed as he bombarded, "How're you, Masaki? I'm so sorry that I can't stay by your side! You screamed so terribly that I thought you're—"

"Enough, Shiba Isshin." Another voice came from the door and walking in was a man in a doctor's white robes. His hard gaze behind his glasses glared at him. "I won't let anything happen to Masaki in my hospital."

"Ryuu-chan!" Masaki greeted with a bright smile. "It's been a long time!"

"Yes indeed," He nodded and sauntered to the new parents. He took a glance to the baby in her arms, "Anyhow, congratulations to you, I guess."

"You guess?!" Isshin frowned. "This is one of the most extraordinary miracles in this world, you know? The mums have to push themselves to the brink of death to bring this new life to the world! You don't just congratulate her, but also thank the gods for seeing her through the ordeal!"

Ishida Ryuuken glowered at the dark-haired man but made no rebuts. After a few seconds, he turned his attention back to Masaki, "So, what's his name? The baby, that is."

In the softly rocking arms of his mother, the baby's cries started to lessen and soon ceased. Maternal love began to bloom within Masaki's heart at the sight of her newborn as she recalled the long conversations she had with Isshin during the many nights when her bloated belly bothered their sleep. "He's Kurosaki Ichigo, he who protects."

Ryuuken raised his brows at the sound of the name, but he held his words back again. Nodding, he asked for the form from the nurses, filled it and asked the new father with streaming tears to sign it with a scoff. After the official procedures done, he said, "You can stay in the hospital as long as you like for your recuperation, Masaki. I'll cover up the extra expenses during your stay."

"Oh no, Ryuu-chan!" Masaki exclaimed. "We'll just stay until I'm good—"

"What nonsense, my dear!" Isshin barged in with a wide lopsided smirk. "Since he's shown such hospitable generosity, we shouldn't refuse the offer and take it with a grateful heart! Then we'll be staying for some more days!"

"Are you retarded, you bastard?" The white-haired Quincy seethed with anger. "When I said staying, I mean for her to stay at least a week, unless you want her to be weak for not recovering properly! Furthermore, your boy also needs time to get use to this world, but I don't think you're capable of handling him!"

"I know that, Ishida!" Isshin rebutted with his own scowl. "But I can't stand not being with Masaki for so long, and I have more experience in handling children than you know—I'm talking about the babies and kids in Soul Society, for crying out loud!" He yelled before the fuming doctor could make a remark. "I won't ever let anything happen to my Masaki and my boy. You can count on it!"

Despite the perplexed nurses looking anxiously at the sight of her husband and their director locked in a heated argument and they were still in the delivery room, Masaki smiled as she felt everything was perfect and completed. The centuries-old grudge between the Shinigami and Quincy seemed to have lifted up, albeit the loud squabbles of the two grown men that caused her new baby to wake up and cry again. It turned out to be a booming fiesta, but she minded not a single bit.

"Just _shut the hell up_!" Ryuuken finally lost his cool and swiftly dragged Isshin out of the room, stunning all the nurses with his crude behaviour in contrast to his usual self. After a minute he returned despite being a bit dishevelled. He straightened his crooked tie and suit and said to the nurses, "Bring Kurosaki-san to her room after tidying up, and try to keep her rest in silence such as fencing that buffoon of a man out as much as you can." Getting the affirmative answer he left for the sudden call from another nurse to look at some patients. He left in such a hurry that Masaki's thank hung at the tip of her tongue.

"Well, I'll just say that to him in the future." She said to herself as she cradled her baby to sleep again. "As for you, my baby," She kissed him on his forehead, "Your Daddy's out cold, I guess, so you're spared from that smack on the buttock on the first day of life. But you'll have to be careful, because Daddy really keeps his words!"

\+ B + B +

" _Ding-dong!_ " The doorbell of the Kurosaki Clinic rang throughout the sanctuary, alerting the inhabitants. Always light on her feet, Yuzu skipped to answer the door. Out there standing were none other than Ichigo and Orihime.

"Onii-chan! Onee-chan!" She greeted gaily as the women locked themselves in a tight hug. Then the other raven-haired members popped out from the corner.

"Right about time!" Karin sighed tiredly. "You finally have your sandbag back, goat-chin, so don't bother me anymore, 'kay?!"

"No!" The boisterous father grinned. "Now I have two kids to play with—"

"Just leave us the hell alone!" At the same time, Ichigo kicked in the face and Karin shoved her elbow into the abdomen, and the force slammed the man to the opposite wall. Being no stranger to the spars, Yuzu looked at the scene unfold to her apathetically, but Orihime panicked.

"I-Ichigo!" The healer berated. "You shouldn't do this to your father!"

"He'll be fine, Orihime." He shrugged nonchalantly and snaked his arm around his three-year-old wife's waist. "He's been on the receiving end of this for so many years that I'll be very surprised to see him not immune to injuries."

"But that's still not a good way to treat the one who you're in debt of for many parts of your life, Kurosaki." A cool voice came from behind.

"You're the one to talk, Ishida!" The currently-fully-fledged Shinigami snapped. "From what I've seen you're hardly in good terms with your old man, and which in comparison we're so much better than you!" With an eerily-similar glower, Uryuu pushed his glasses.

"I'll make sure you'll get it after I've settled my pregnant wife in the living room, and now, if you'll just excuse us." He said coolly as he led Tatsuki with a swollen belly through the door. Orihime squealed when the soul-sisters met and went into the house as well with the Ishida. Ichigo also followed her tight wordlessly.

"Wow, it smells nice, Yuzu!" Tatsuki said as they all walked into the living room, and the aroma of sizzling fish in the pan watered their mouths.

"Well, fish is good for pregnant women! I've also made some beef curry!" Once on the topic of cooking, the youngest Kurosaki sibling was all cheery and delightful. "You need to eat for two people, Tatsuki-nee-chan, so don't worry and eat up! I've cooked plenty for tonight! Oh, by the way, onee-chan," She winked at Orihime. "I've bought some wasabi and mustard for you to go with your food!"

"Oh, that's very considerate of you, Yuzu-chan!" The woman beamed at her as she sat between her best friend and her husband in the sofa. "But I think I have to turn down your good intention tonight."

At that same moment Karin and Isshin also came in and heard that. All the eyes—except Ichigo's—swept to her and if their looks were guns, Orihime ought to be full of bullet holes.

"Are you alright, Orihime?!" Tatsuki was the first to recover. "The Sun must be rising from the west right now if you're not putting anything weird with your food and swallowing them down to your stomach—Ichigo!" She turned to seethe at the man. "Have you even tried to take good care of her, you idiot?! Is Soul Society more important to you than your wife?! You said you never go back on your words, but you've forgotten about your vows already?!"

"Oh, Masaki!" Tears streaming down his bearded face, Isshin dashed to the huge poster of the deceased Kurosaki matriarch. "I'm so disappointed in our son! We had so many hopes in him, but he's let us down! Again and again he's hurt our lovely Orihime-chan! What am I gonna do?!"

"Stop that annoying rambling now, Oyaji! And I have not, do not and will never forget my promises!" The orange-haired husband hollered back. "Orihime's taste in food is still the same as ever," He cringed a bit at the thoughts of her concoctions. "It's just that I've forbidden her to eat anymore of it for some months, okay?!"

"But why do you need to—" Just as Karin raised the question, she noticed her sister-in-law's bashful blush and saw how her brother suddenly got very embarrassed when he caught her staring. She could not help but let her grin grew wide. "Wow, I thought that the news of me and Toushirou being an item had blown off your minds, but this one here is more devastating!"

"What's wrong, Karin-chan?" Yuzu asked worriedly. "By devastating, you don't mean that the world's ending again?"

"Nah, it's not that." Her twin waved her hand, still grinning from ear to ear. "How could it not be devastating when I say we'll soon be aunts?"

Her words dropped another new bomb. All the minds were forcibly shut down, slowly starting up and loading data. After a minute and they still had their mouths hanging. It was Yuzu who woke up first to the scent of the burning fish.

"Congratulations, onee-chan!" She squealed, flipping the fillet expertly. "And also to you, onii-chan!"

"I should say 'at last', Kurosaki." Uryuu pushed his glasses with another smirk. "I was starting to think that you're actually…impotent."

"Goddamn it, Ishida!" Ichigo ground his teeth. "You know better than anyone that I was practically held in Soul Society! Besides, we had hindrances whenever we tried to do it, and when we did nothing happened because the time's not right! How could it all be my fault?!"

"Wow, you've surely grown into a big boy now, huh, Ichigo?" Tatsuki snickered. "You used to be as red as a lobster whenever you talk about intimate topics involving women. As expected of Orihime, she got you wrapped around her finger!"

The orange-haired couple got into a deeper shade of red as the others roared in uncontrollable laughter. As always, anger was the emotion most easily managed to conceal his embarrassment, Ichigo jumped up from his seat and stomped out of the room in order to cool himself down, if he was not yanked by the collar and dragged upstairs to the room he rarely got into since teenage: his father's room.

"What the hell, Oyaji?!" He shouted at the old patriarch with specks of grey in his hair. Even though the soul would not change much, it was obvious that time has done quite a number on the aging body, marking him as a senior of the society. But this revelation was not the thing that startled Ichigo for now, as Isshin showed him the most deadpanned serious look he had ever seen. Brows slightly drawn, eyes hard, nose flared a bit and lips tight at the corners, these were the same facial expressions he has seen on the captains—and in particular Byakuya, for most of the time.

"What I'm going to do would be humiliation to you in front of that crowd, so I brought you up here." He said. "Because I'm gonna smack your buttocks."

"…Come again?" The son narrowed his eyes. Since he started fighting against his father, his entire body—from head to toe—have already fallen victim to Isshin's fury, and they fought no matter where they were or who were with them. So why, for the love of god, would he want to just smack his _buttocks_ in such privacy? He could not fathom it.

"Maybe I should start by telling you the story…" After hearing the story, the son stared at the father incredulously, his face torn between the urge to burst laughing and keeping his usual scowl.

"…You're the greatest idiotic father I've ever met, making that into a promise." He groaned. "But since it's a promise…get it done quickly." He turned around and braced himself from the usual brutal hits, but other than the two soft sounds of "thwack, thwack" accompanied with dull pain cushioned by his thick trousers, it was nothing. He looked back at his father perplexedly, "The hell, Oyaji? I thought you'd hit me harder than that?"

"…You'll know in time, my son. You'll know." With a rarer fatherly smile, Isshin patted Ichigo on his shoulder and left the room, leaving a very confused father-to-be behind…

\+ B + B +

"Ouch!" The loud crash woke Orihime up in the middle of the night. She sprang up in the bed and looked around frantically for anything wrong, only to find a raised twitching hand on the other side of the bed. Slowly, Ichigo climbed up from the floor, hissing as he nursed his bumped head and buttocks.

"Are you alright, Ichigo?" She asked worriedly.

"No worries, Orihime. I'm fine." He said with a wince.

"I'm sorry that I've disturbed your sleep again." She said. "I just couldn't find a good position, and my big belly makes you uncomfortable."

"Nah, it's okay. Don't sweat about it." He waved a hand in the air to dismiss it.

"You can actually touch me, you know." She suggested. "That way you can get closer to me so you won't fall down from the bed anymore."

"No!" Ichigo protested. "You know who I toss around when I sleep! I don't want any of my thrashing hurt either you or our baby—" Then his father's words and slaps occurred to him, and in no time he cried.

"W-Wh-What happened, Ichigo?!" Needless to say, Orihime was stunned like a deer in the headlights by his awkward behaviour.

"I understand now, Oyaji…I understand it now…" He muttered between his sobs as pressed his palms into his eyes in a vain attempt to cease the flow of tears. "Thank you, Oyaji. Thank you…"

It took Ichigo some time before he was finally calm enough to explain the full story to Orihime, who listened quietly without interrupting him. When he made it to the end, tears began to glaze his eyes again, but she was already all waterworks. With a soft whine, she threw her arms around him and sobbed into his chest.

"I could never know how Oyaji feels when he slapped my buttocks…until I fall on mine." He said softly, stroking his wife's long silky hair. "He could've done it many years before, but he never did, not even when I still live in there and we fought day in and day out. But then he hit me so lightly that…that…" He could no longer rein in the tears as they fell freely down his cheeks. "I now understand how much he cares for me when I got hurt in fights, when I berated myself for kaa-san's death, when I fell into depression as I thought that I couldn't save Karakura from Aizen, when I was sent back from the Soul King Palace, and many more occasions. I'm his son, as of course he'd want to protect me from fighting as he had, but again and again he sent me out only to return with injuries, but he never has the heart to deal any wounds on me…"

It was a long sleepless night for the expecting parents, as they both savoured the bitter-sweet love of a parent to their dearest children.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading! I hope to see you again soon!**

 **Kuroi Kokoro 09**


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